MT24P - Mule Team Fixed Blade with Maxamet

[rodloos]

Today I got the Spyderco Byte email mentioning the upcoming Manix 2 Lightweight with Maxamelt! woohoo!

I will definitely be ordering that one!

[SpyderPhreak]

My Maxamet Mules with smoothed Halpern Scales. :cool: One set is Blue/Black G10, and the other is the "Heritage Brown" (Walnut) Dymondwood. I sanded both sets smooth to 600 grit (used 80 grit to remove the points, then progressed through 120, 240, 320, 400, and 600), then polished with Flitz. Washed them down with Dawn dishsoap, and finally added a coat of Ren Wax.

They turned out pretty darned good, if you ask me! :D I wish the G10 was a brighter blue, as they're darker than I was hoping for (which makes it really hard to photograph with the blue showing well), but that's the way it goes. And yes, before anyone worries, I wet sanded the g10 under running water to prevent any nasty fiberglass dust.

Enjoy the pics!!! :spyder:











My favorite pic of the bunch. Has a cool yin/yang thing going on. :)

[Xplorer]

Very nice SpyderPhreak! Your effort really shows in the look of both of your knives. Beautiful! :)

[PaleMoon]

That's some beautiful work SpyderPhreak! Would you mind giving some more details on the process? I like my G10 halperns, but don't care much for the rough finish. The polished look is much better IMO.

[MacLaren]

Those turned out absolutely beautiful!
Congratz man.

[SpyderPhreak]

Thanks guys! They turned out really well for a relatively small time commitment to get them nice and smooth. :cool:

That's some beautiful work SpyderPhreak! Would you mind giving some more details on the process? I like my G10 halperns, but don't care much for the rough finish. The polished look is much better IMO.

It really wasn't anything beyond what I already mentioned:

I sanded both sets smooth to 600 grit (used 80 grit to remove the points, then progressed through 120, 240, 320, 400, and 600), then polished with Flitz. Washed them down with Dawn dishsoap, and finally added a coat of Ren Wax.

I spent the longest with the 80 grit paper to get the points removed, sanding and checking progress often once they seemed to be getting close. To check them, I would clean (Dymondwood) or dry (G10) them off, and see if I could still see a checkered pattern. Once I could just barely still make out the checkered pattern, I moved to the 120 grit and sanded until the pattern was no longer visible. From there, I just methodically sanded each area of the scale a bit at a time progressing up through the finer grits. If you look carefully, you can tell if you missed an area before proceeding, as you'll be able to make out larger scratches than in the general vicinity.

The G10 took about twice as long for the initial 80-grit stage, and I had to use closed-cell wet grade SiC to sand them under water, whereas I mostly used open-cell AlO2 paper for the Dymondwood scales. After the first step, it probably took about 50% more time on each paper grit for the G10 (it's just tougher material), though it didn't take any longer to polish with Flitz than the Dymondwood did. The only other thing I can say I did was to keep sanding in the same direction through each step. You will get a nicer polish at the end that way if the scratch pattern lines up the same direction (think like a satin blade finish). In this case, I sanded the scales lengthwise in their longest dimension.

HTH. :spyder:

[tvenuto]

Smooth/polished G10 really does look great. It's a shame we don't see more of it, although I guess the counter to that statement is that all the peel ply in my knife box could be polished up with a bit of work by myself.

[PaleMoon]

Thanks guys! They turned out really well for a relatively small time commitment to get them nice and smooth. :cool:

That's some beautiful work SpyderPhreak! Would you mind giving some more details on the process? I like my G10 halperns, but don't care much for the rough finish. The polished look is much better IMO.

It really wasn't anything beyond what I already mentioned:

I sanded both sets smooth to 600 grit (used 80 grit to remove the points, then progressed through 120, 240, 320, 400, and 600), then polished with Flitz. Washed them down with Dawn dishsoap, and finally added a coat of Ren Wax.

I spent the longest with the 80 grit paper to get the points removed, sanding and checking progress often once they seemed to be getting close. To check them, I would clean (Dymondwood) or dry (G10) them off, and see if I could still see a checkered pattern. Once I could just barely still make out the checkered pattern, I moved to the 120 grit and sanded until the pattern was no longer visible. From there, I just methodically sanded each area of the scale a bit at a time progressing up through the finer grits. If you look carefully, you can tell if you missed an area before proceeding, as you'll be able to make out larger scratches than in the general vicinity.

The G10 took about twice as long for the initial 80-grit stage, and I had to use closed-cell wet grade SiC to sand them under water, whereas I mostly used open-cell AlO2 paper for the Dymondwood scales. After the first step, it probably took about 50% more time on each paper grit for the G10 (it's just tougher material), though it didn't take any longer to polish with Flitz than the Dymondwood did. The only other thing I can say I did was to keep sanding in the same direction through each step. You will get a nicer polish at the end that way if the scratch pattern lines up the same direction (think like a satin blade finish). In this case, I sanded the scales lengthwise in their longest dimension.

HTH. :spyder:

Very helpful, thank you. I don't have much experience with this kind of work, so every little bit helps!

By the way, is there any advantage/disadvantage to wet sanding, other than safety? Would there be any downside to sanding the G10 dry using a respirator in open space?

[tripscheck'em]

My Maxamet Mules with smoothed Halpern Scales. :cool: One set is Blue/Black G10, and the other is the "Heritage Brown" (Walnut) Dymondwood. I sanded both sets smooth to 600 grit (used 80 grit to remove the points, then progressed through 120, 240, 320, 400, and 600), then polished with Flitz. Washed them down with Dawn dishsoap, and finally added a coat of Ren Wax.

They turned out pretty darned good, if you ask me! :D I wish the G10 was a brighter blue, as they're darker than I was hoping for (which makes it really hard to photograph with the blue showing well), but that's the way it goes. And yes, before anyone worries, I wet sanded the g10 under running water to prevent any nasty fiberglass dust.

Enjoy the pics!!! :spyder:











My favorite pic of the bunch. Has a cool yin/yang thing going on. :)

very fine handles

[SpyderPhreak]

^^^Thanks trips!

Very helpful, thank you. I don't have much experience with this kind of work, so every little bit helps!

By the way, is there any advantage/disadvantage to wet sanding, other than safety? Would there be any downside to sanding the G10 dry using a respirator in open space?

Probably not, other than being less messy and I could do it in the house without wearing an annoying mask.

[henk]

Here is my maxamet mule in ebony:

[farnorthdan]

Welcome to the forum henk, nice looking mule you got there.